Climbing The Mountain

We're planning our next trip out.

But, we've had a chance to see some of our pics form our AK trip down to TX.
Hope you don't mind if we put some in form our stop at Denali, "The Mountain",  as the Alaskan Natives call it.

But they just can't change it's name from Mt. McKinley.
Seems the Ohio congressional delegation just won't let the name of their favorite President be changed on that mountain, even if he never even went to see it.

Anyway, it's about 4/5th the distance form Anchorage to Fairbanks. "only" 240 miles.
Don't plan on taking 5 hours.
They say 6 1/2, depending on Summer road construction.

But, it's worth the trip.

When we got there, some young lady was complaining about the cost.
She expected the $ 10 per person admission, but not the additional $ 40 - 70 per person to ride the busses into the park (and that is the only way to see it's interior).
If you bring a few kids, that can eat up your budget for sure.

Well, you can get a free shuttle for the first 15 miles, but we didn't see much wildlife when we took that years ago (only one caribou on that trip).
So we paid the big bucks for an 8 hour roundtrip ride to Eielson Visitor Center.

We could have gone to Wonder Lake on an additional 3 1/2 hour ride and seen just how high the climb would have been form 4,000 to 20,000 feet up Mt McKinley, but settled for the shorter ride.

And see the mountain we did. Over and over again.

And that is a rare event.
In fact, only 30% of visitors EVER see the Mt. because it is often covered with clouds.
So we are finally in the "30% Club".
(Incidentally, we also hope to be in the political "47% club" perhaps some day soon).

We even tried to pose, with the sun behind us.

But if you look carefully at our picture from early June below, we think you'll see why the time to climb the mountain is about over for this year.

The snow has started to melt and a sheet of wet ice is not what you want to step on.

This is actually the highest mountain the the world that you can climb.
Yes, we know that Everest is a lot taller. But here you can start from 3,000 or 4,000 feet if you want, and climb up to 20+K.

In the last few years lots have climbed it and we even know one who did.
Started training in the Fall and did the climb around Easter.

But lots have died in the last few years. Seems like that record is being broken yearly.
And it's not the weak or the undertrained that seem to falter. Some have repeatedly climbed Mt Hood or
even higher ones and lost their life here within the last few years.

Personally, I think people are on a schedule, and no one wants to say, "The weather's not good, let's try another time".
That's my opinion as I sat on a bench, drink form my water bottle at the Eielson Visitor Center and say, "No, that's not for me".

PS The vertical climb up Denali is up to 18,000 feet.
.